“About?”
“A mission…”
Her eyes met his. “What is it?”
“Mantis. There’s a report that he’s been kidnapped by Somali pirates. I’m going in with a team to extract him.”
“When do you leave?” she asked, knowing it had to be soon.
“Tonight. Look, I know it’s close to Christmas, and I’m sorry—”
She held up her hand. “Don’t be. I understand.”
“I wasn’t sure you would.”
“What do you mean?”
“If Mantis had sprung something like this on you…”
She rested her hand on his arm. “This is different. If the situations were reversed and he was telling me he had to go in and get you, I would understand in the same way I do now.”
Dutch reached out and stroked her cheek. “We’ll leave at sixteen hundred.”
Alegria nodded and moved closer to him, wishing they hadn’t spent the last three weeks arguing as much as they had. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest. It felt good to just relax into his comfort.
When he leaned down and brought his lips to hers, she kissed him back, and then moved her hands from his waist to his butt and tilted her pelvis so his hardness was pressed against her.
“Are you sure you want this?” he murmured before he kissed her a second time.
Alegria backed away, taking his hand and leading him into the bedroom.
Once there, she pulled her sweater over her head, and then pushed her wool skirt down until it slid from her hips to the floor. Dutch’s eyes traveled the length of her body as she stood before him in nothing but her bra and panties.
“Make love to me, Dutch.” She held her hand out to him as she sat on the bed.
In seconds he was on her, as though he was hurrying to get her naked before he changed his mind. His fingers released the clasp on her bra, and he pulled it from her body.
“Lie down,” he said, taking her panties in both hands and sliding them down her legs.
“Please, Dutch,” she begged as he stood above her, taking in every inch of her nakedness.
She watched as he undressed. He took her breath away. When they first met, he’d been tall and lanky, but over the course of the years, the boyishness of his body had become all man. While he may appear less muscular than some of the other K19 partners, he was no less powerful.
When he was happy, his blue eyes twinkled, and when he was focused on something, like he was on her now, their intensity heated her core. Recently, Dutch had let his beard grow. At first she didn’t like the way it scratched her skin, but as it softened, she’d learned to love it.
As he stalked to the bedside table, the muscles in his body flexed. She couldn’t wait for this man to be inside her. It had been far too long since he had.
Dutch pulled out a foil packet from the drawer, rolled on the condom, and came to rest between her legs. His eyes bored into hers. “Do you know how much I love you?”
She nodded, but she couldn’t look him in the eye.
“Alegria, look at me…”
“I’m sorry…but…I can’t do this…,” she cried, tears running down her cheeks.
Dutch got off the bed and went into the bathroom. He came back out seconds later, grabbed his clothes, and stalked from the bedroom.
“Get dressed. We’ll leave as soon as you’re ready,” she heard him say.